


Red Skies: Morning

by wrennette



Series: Red Skies [1]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: BAMF Merlin, Paganism, archiving old words, faerie (as a place), mythology and religion, otherlands, sort of, taking liberties with mythology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-15
Updated: 2015-09-15
Packaged: 2018-04-20 20:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,993
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4801880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrennette/pseuds/wrennette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's up to Merlin to save Arthur from the Erlking.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Red Skies: Morning

**Author's Note:**

> Archiving from LJ. Originally posted 2008.
> 
> Disclaimer: Merlin belongs to it's creators at the BBC. The author intends no copyright infringement and makes no profit.

Merlin glanced at the rising sun nervously. It glimmered deep red on the horizon, partially obscured by dark, ominous clouds. Reasonless anxiety clenched in his gut. Trouble was coming, he was sure of it. A bloody sunrise was an ill omen, and maybe that was old wife's wisdom, but much old wife's wisdom had a kernel of truth buried in it. He hunkered his narrow shoulders down and sped his steps along the narrow winding alleys. He was already late to attend on Arthur and they had a busy day. His duties wouldn't be finished until after the banquet, and he would need to change into that damnable livery once he got to the palace. The wind whistled under the eaves, cutting through his thin shirt. He glanced back at the horizon, watching the sun slide up over the horizon to be quickly obscured by clouds. Day light settled grey and green over the kingdom, and a chill settled into Merlin's bones.

All day, and through out the banquet, Merlin was distracted and anxious. He could just feel trouble coming, and the sound of the wind picking up outside only made him more nervous. No one else seemed to notice though, or at least, if they did, they didn't show their anxiety. He watched Arthur, watched Morgana, watched Gwen. They seemed themselves, normal as normal could be. Somehow, it didn't soothe him in the least. When the storm started, Merlin nearly jumped out of his skin. The sound of the rain pounding against the flags of the distant court seemed inordinately loud, the wind nearly deafening. The sound of the first bolt of lightning sizzled in Merlin's ears, and the resounding crash of thunder made his stomach roil with anticipation. Hands shaking, he excused himself momentarily, fleeing up out of the banquet hall, taking the narrow stairs two at a time until he burst out onto the parapets.

The moon and stars were obliterated by the low storm clouds. Each giant rain drop struck Merlin like a pebble, cold and hard. Lightning flashed blindingly, burning his retinas with streaks of phosphor. The thunder felt like it was rumbling out from inside his own chest, and Merlin stared straight up into the night, the storm whirling around him. Over the roar of the storm, Merlin heard the distant baying of hounds and an insistent one-two beat. The feeling of dread that had been welling in him all day crested, and he sprinted to the stairs, racing pell-mell down and down to the banquet hall. 

From two floors away he could hear the screaming of women and clattering of armed men. He burst from the staircase, stopping short when he saw the entry to the hall. The wood of the door was splintered like a tree struck by lightning, the wrought iron twisting back as if from intense heat. The King was being armed by numerous attendants, the Lords and Knights of the kingdom arming as well. Merlin scanned the hall once quickly, then looked more closely. Gaius was with Morgana and Gwen, but his eyes could not pick out the one face he needed most desperately to see. Arthur was gone. Merlin's stomach dropped down through his shoes, and he stole quickly into the hall, making his way to Gaius and the girls. 

"Oh thank God," Gaius breathed as he saw Merlin, pulling the boy close and embracing him tightly. "I feared you had been taken as well." Merlin's fear ratcheted up a notch. 

"Taken?" Merlin asked shakily, and Gaius nodded. "What happened?" he pressed, and Gaius gave a swift shake of his head. 

"Not here," the physician murmured urgently, and Merlin understood. Whatever had happened to Arthur, it had happened through magic. Merlin mentally berated himself. It was his duty, his most important duty, to protect Arthur, especially from magic. He had failed. He pinned back his shoulders resolutely. 

"I have to help him," Merlin said, and Gaius sighed softly, resigned that he would not be able to change his apprentice's mind.

"Come on," Gaius said, leading Merlin, Morgana and Gwen back to his quarters. It was really only Merlin he required, but when the girls followed, he did not send them away. "It is the Hunt," Gaius said softly when the door had been closed and the candles lit. "I am certain of it, although I have never seen it before." Gaius pulled out a book, leaving Merlin gasping softly. 

"Cwn Annwn?" Merlin asked, and Gaius turned, seeing the blood drain from the boy's face. Gaius nodded, and Merlin managed to pale even further. 

"You know of it then?" Morgana asked eagerly. "As more than a folktale?" Merlin nodded silently, face drawn and tight. 

"The Hunt rides every winter in the country," Merlin said in a quiet sort of terror, voice chillingly even. "They carry away the souls of those they find sleeping, kill those who see them and call plagues upon the towns the pass through. When I was but a boy, the Hunt passed through our town. My mother was able to keep my sister and I awake and quiet, but my father was not so lucky. He could not stay awake, and the Erl-King took him, to ride the Hunt forever and ever, down to the land of the dead." Morgana looked enraptured, Gwen vaguely horrified. "Why would they take Arthur?" Merlin asked softly. "Why him and no one else?" Gaius shook his head unknowingly. 

With a soft moan of annoyance Merlin began to thumb quickly through one of the books, looking for any help they might get in following the Wild Hunt. It was not something one did, by his knowledge. The Hunt was to be avoided at all costs. To see it pass was death. Even just to hear it often brought madness. 

"Here," Gwen said suddenly, excitement coloring her voice. They crowded around her, staring at where her finger jabbed against the page. "It says that the Erl-King needs a mortal Champion, to defeat his great enemy. He always takes the most decorated fighter in the land as his Champion. He will take Champions until his enemy is defeated, or his Champion wins. When the Champion wins, oh. Oh no! We - we have to get him back before he fights the Erl-King's enemy!" They all stared at the last paragraph. Arthur would either be killed by the Erl-King's enemy outright, or would triumph, only to become the Erl-King's enemy. Either way, Arthur would fight, and he would die. 

"We have to get him back," Merlin said, voice soft but strong. Gaius nodded, looking through his books more carefully now that they had an idea of what Arthur faced. 

"There's a door," Morgana said, pale finger tracing the lines of text. "A door in the wind, it says," her tone grew annoyed. "And how is that helpful?" She asked shortly. "A door in the wind? How could such a thing exist? And how would you find it?" 

"A cat," Merlin said softly. "They say cats can see spirits, I bet one could see a door in the wind as well." Gaius nodded. It was a start.

"So we need a cat, and some way to get to the door, and some way to get Arthur away from the Erl-King." Morgana said, and the others could hear the unspoken fear in her voice, that they would never figure out how to even find Arthur before it was too late, never mind save him. 

"An oak spear," Gwen said shyly, her cheeks pink. They looked at her expectantly. "The Erl-King, he's the King of the Underworld. So the Sun King must be his enemy. The Sun King is Lord of the Oak-forest. Oak will hurt him then." Merlin nodded. 

"And Rowan," Merlin added. "Rowan, Oak and Thorn, those are the trees of the kind fairies," he said, and the girls both nodded. 

"You will need a good horse," Gaius said. "And a strong knife to cut your spear." Merlin nodded, having already assumed that he would go himself. 

"I have an iron knife," Morgana offered. "It was my mothers, and her mother's before that, back to the old Queens. Iron is good against fairy folk." Merlin nodded, and the girls both raced off, Gween saying something about an old mouser. Gaius gave Merlin a long look, and the raven haired boy nodded. He knew very well that the Erl-King would kill him as soon as look at him. But he also knew he was a powerful warlock in his own right. 

"He chose Arthur for more than that reason, didn't he," Merlin mused. "If anyone looked the part of the Sun King, it's Arthur. He'll win, I know he will, but once he does..." Merlin's voice trailed off apprehensively. 

"You'll need a good cloak in this weather," was all Gaius said. "And remember not to eat or drink anything in the Erl-King's domain, don't try to bring anything but Arthur back with you, and don't let him keep anything either."

Morgana returned first, with an ancient wood handled dagger. It was as long as Merlin's forearm, and when he drew the blade it glittered dully in the firelight. He traced his thumb along the edge to test it, immediately drawing a weal of blood on the pad of his thumb. The blade was deadly sharp, and if he had any confidence, he would use it to kill the Erl-King. Some time later, Gwen returned, an irate black tom spitting in her arms. "I couldn't find the old mouser," she gasped, "but this one crossed my path, so here you are". Merlin quickly stowed the dagger, shoving the sheathed blade into his belt, then accepted the cat. It hissed at him angrily, and he crooned low in his throat, rubbing at it's pinned back ears. It quieted, and Merlin whispered softly into it's fur as Gaius draped a heavy cloak around his shoulders. They went quickly to the stables, and Morgana had her own horse saddled for him, hoping that the swift footed mare would be fast enough to reach Arthur in time.

Merlin clambered up astride the mare, and Morgana led it out, then slapped her hand firmly against it's flank, sending it bounding into the stormy night. Merlin clung to the mare's mane with one hand, the other cradling the tom against his chest. He leaned down along the mare's neck, bowing his head against the wind and rain. 

"Find Arthur," he murmured against the horse's steaming neck. "Follow the Erl-King to Arthur." The mare clattered through the winding streets, past the unmanned guard posts and into the countryside beyond. "Find the door in the wind," Merlin told the cat, and his eyes flashed the same gold as the toms. The cat mewled sympathetically and rubbed it's head up under Merlin's chin, then twisted from his arms to sit on the mare's withers in front of the saddle.

"Find the door in the wind," Merlin urged again, eyes still glowing gold, and the cat danced up the mares neck, batting playfully at it's ears. The mare never slowed, never hesitated, and they unlikely trio hurtled through the storm. The cat yowled loudly, a blood curdling sort of scream, and they passed out of the rain and wind, into a still silent space. Merlin reined the mare in hurriedly, looking about in wonder. Willows and hollies grew all about, tattered and bedraggled looking. Cobwebs hung from the still trees, and Merlin looked around cautiously, feeling as if he were being watched. The tom jumped down into his arms, and he stepped back out into the storm. He had to hunt for a little while, but he found an oak soon enough, and muttering a prayer, cut a stout branch from it, the thickness of his thumb.

It was easy to find the door in the wind for a second time, and Merlin passed into the land of the dead.


End file.
